October 13: English Language Day

“But if I say, “I will not mention his word
or speak anymore in his name,”
his word is in my heart like a fire,
a fire shut up in my bones.
I am weary of holding it in;
indeed, I cannot.”

Jeremiah 20:9

Happy English Language Day! I love languages, and, since English happens to be my mother tongue, I’m particularly fond of it. 🙂

According to the English Project, 1,500 years ago English was spoken by three tribes in the British Isles, yet, today, it is spoken by nearly two billion people. English is the lingua franca of our time, with ESL speakers outnumbering native English three to one (see the English Project for more info).

I love proper English, and truly enjoy editing formal writing (I know I’m strange). Nevertheless, my favorite fact about English may be how often and how easily it changes itself, “borrowing” words from other languages. To illustrate, here’s one of my favorite language quotes, courtesy of James Nicoll:

“[The English language] not only borrows words from other languages; it has on occasion chased other languages down dark alley-ways, clubbed them unconscious and rifled their pockets for new vocabulary.”